A Broken Union
by thewonderpen
Summary: A simple mission goes horribly wrong the Avengers are left on edge on who to trust. Action packed, plot twists! Clintasha. I do not own the Avengers.
1. Union Unmade

**Hello everyone! So I guess this story would be considered AU because Laura and the kids don't exist. Either way, I really wanted to write some Avengers fics with a lot of action so here it is!**

 **Chapter 1: Union Unmade**

Natasha and Clint had spent the day lounging in her dorm, spending some much needed quality time with each other after their prolonged solo missions. They had been inseparable since they returned the night before, staying up to talk for all hours of the night and now, this. Natasha sat on her kitchen counter observing her partner cook for her. Not many have had the privilege of being served by the one and only Clint Barton, and he continually enforced what an honor it was.

"Chicken parmesan is my specialty dish, I'll have you know," Clint announced while sifting through her fridge.

"Actually I do, Clint. Considering it's the dish you always cook for me," Natasha smiled, Clint's never ending quest to elicit a compliment from her was constantly met with failure.

"You know what, agent? I've decide to put you to work, grate this block of parmesan." Clint moved to be directly in front of her the holding the cheese out for her. Natasha glanced down at the dairy product before meeting his eyes once again.

She shrugged, "I've never grated anything before, Clint."

Clint scoffed, "Then why do you have a cheese grater in your cabinet?"

"That's yours. Stop leaving your things in my apartment," Natasha responded evenly. Clint grabbed her wrist and eased her off the counter before placing the food and gadget in her hands and returned to the fridge. He laughed to himself as Natasha groaned repeatedly.

"Clint, help me," she whined.

He was taken aback, "The glorious Black Widow asking for the mere archer's assistance?" Clint shuffled behind her and peered at the discombobulated mess she had created. "Here," he bought her hands into the proper position and slowly demonstrated the correct movements by guiding her hands. They both grew hush, Natasha could practically feel his breath on her neck. Perhaps it was awkwardness or they were having a tender moment, either way Romanoff was fighting the urge to turn and kiss him, a feeling she more and more fought to suppress. Sensing the tension Clint cleared his throat and rambled, "So, yea. Umm, that's how you… grate cheese."

She missed the warmth of his hands over his, an embarrassing thought but a thought nonetheless. She was considering if a 'thank you' was due when Jarvis interrupted the silence, "Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton-you're presence has been requested for a team meeting in the main lounge, immediately."

The partners shared a look, mandatory team meeting rarely were held for anything apart from a new mission. Natasha placed the plates of unprepared food into refrigerator before ushering Clint to the door. They walked halfway down the hall where the elevator was placed and rode it up to the lounge where the remaining Avengers were already gathered along with Fury.

Fury wasted no time with greetings, "We have a young terrorist group threatening international security. There appear to be a fairly new group, regardless, we need you to shut them down."

Tony was the first to deliver the question on each's mind, "Doesn't that seem a bit less 'Avengers-oriented' and more SHIELD-rookie work?"

"We've received a tip that this young group has a massive amount of Atonine Diotine-14," nobody missed Banner's eyes slightly widening, "it's a manmade substance, almost a bootleg version of the Tesseract, it's highly unstable and far too powerful to be controlled. If this group finds a way to react the chemical, we'd be looking at a catastrophic disaster. The counsel prefers if you'd handle the matter for obvious safety precautions."

"So where we headed?" Steve interjected.

"Ukraine. About an hour from Kiev. You leave in a half hour, you'll land in the capital and there will be a car waiting for you. Keep your comms in and keep me updated." Fury made a hasty leave to the elevator.

We all turned to Banner who sensed he should provide further knowledge, "Atonine Diotine-14 was a recently developed element. It's more of a prototype in power sustaining energy, it's highly toxic when reacted with carbon dioxide so the chemical can't be released into air without the risk of a Chernobyl-like incident."

"Sounds deadly, how could they get hands on this stuff?" Natasha asked.

"I don't know, which causes me to believe the tip sent to SHIELD was an error."

Thor stood, and headed to the elevators, "Well, it appears we have no time to stall. We shall investigate how real the existence of this substance is." Steve, Clint, and Natasha piled in the elevator with Thor. The soldier and god stepped off at their level first, its set up was identical to Clint and Natasha's floor. When the assassins arrived to their quarters they went in opposite directions sharing only a quick glance of sympathy that their quality time had come to an abrupt end.

* * *

The journey to Kiev was pleasurable, the team kept themselves occupied recounting stories and laughing together, in the year or so that they have worked together, they grew accustomed to the long amiable talks that always resulted in a rupture of laughter. Upon arrival, they found a military styled Jeep vehicle awaiting their use. Clint took the wheel, no one dared to question when Natasha plopped into the passenger seat beside Clint this practice was almost traditional. The rest of the men made themselves comfortable in the two empty rows of seats. It was mildly cramped due too Thor's hammer, Tony travel-ready backpacked Iron Man suit, and Steve's shield. Nevertheless, they continued discussing the mission plan when Clint noticed an all-black motorcycle in his blind spot concealing a firearm.

"I think we have company, guys." The team glanced over to cyclist. Clint sped up, the motorist matched his speed. The highway was completely abandoned with the exception of the two vehicles, they were also inconveniently driving through a relatively solitary area.

"We may need to start this mission a tad bit sooner, everyone's comms in?" Natasha bought her own hand to her unnoticeable earpiece. Static.

"The signal's been scrambled!" Bruce yelled. His eyes began to droop and he seemed to be nodding off.

"Bruce!" Natasha reached from the passenger seat to feel for his pulse, it was slow and faint, "Stark, suit up, were going to need you to watching from above." Tony clutched the Iron Man pack as it began unraveling when Clint lost control of the SUV.

"He hit our tires!" Clint attempting to steer away from the raised median dividing the highway lanes. They spun uncontrollably, only slowing to witness a second black motorcycle approaching, this time the cyclist wasted no time aiming and firing his enormous weapon towards the vehicle.

The front end of the car exploded before their eyes. Clint instinctively reached out for Natasha before both assassins were sent hurling through the window from the force of the hit.

Each Avenger was tossed in separate location as the motorcycles fled the scene. There was no one around to witness the large black SUV with tinted windows arrive at the disaster.

 **Thank you for reading! Please leave a review, I appreciate the support! I update often so keep on the lookout.**


	2. Truly Alone

**Thank you to everyone that reviewed and followed, I really appreciate the support!**

 **Chapter 2: Truly Alone**

 **Stark**

Tony woke from his unconscious state far too late. He attempted to paw around for his surroundings but his arm was crushed under the weight of debris. He forced his eyes open, he was lying deep under what was left of the overturned Jeep. His half unraveled suit still over his chest, he imagined, served as an airbag and shielded his body from being crushed.

"Jarvis?" His voice was terribly raspy, "Jarvis, deport the suit!"

Silence. "Jarvis!" Tony repeated, becoming frustrated.

After yelling out through his comms for each of his teammates, he slowly began to recall Banner announcing that the comms weren't working just before the ambush. Despite his limitations, Stark managed to kick the metal bar from restraining his right arm. He began manually taking apart his badly damaged suit, although pieces were missing enough remained for him to accomplish the task ahead of him.

Both gauntlets were surprisingly in tack, which proved overwhelmingly helpful in cutting through the vehicle. He soon managed to squirm his way to freedom. The sunset scene became visible, giving him the viewpoint to overlook the entire sight of the ambush. Not a single teammate could be found, in fact, the entire highway was still abandoned. He could only imagine that the targets had intercepted SHIELD and prepared to attack before they could arrive at their base. This group was proving to be much more powerful than Stark had given them credit for. He set off to continue towards the base, clearly no answers would be found on the vacant sight.

 **Steve**

The impact of the front end of the Jeep exploded, slingshot both Steve and Thor who sat in the very back of the vehicle. Landing nearly a quarter mile off the road, neither lost consciousness a convenient blessing of being a bit more durable than most.

Regaining his senses, Steve addressed the situation. His head hurt, badly, so a possible concussion. All his bones appeared to be functioning, he was fine with the exception of bruises and minor cuts. His first thought was to contact his teammates or Fury but the comms were down. They would need some sort extraction or back up but no one knew of their situation. His main priority became establishing communications.

Next, he needed his shield. The problem solved itself when he noticed it lying a few feet away, his concussion must really be impacting on his other senses. He reached out for the shield and realized what a struggle the headache was going to cause. He placed his hands on his head sucking in air from the pain.

"Rogers, are you well?" He hadn't noticed Thor appear from behind him twirling his Mjolnir seemingly unscathed.

"Fine, just a minor concussion, I hope. How are you? Have you seen any of the others?" Words were becoming difficult to form.

"I landed in a bush, I did not see the others. Do you suggest we trial back to the road to look?" Thor's booming voice rung Steve's ears and increased the headache.

"Yes, we should, just give me a moment," Steve stood and promptly slumped down wincing at the pain, "were going to need to find a safehouse so we can contact SHIELD. And maybe a first aid kit."

"Allow me to assist you, my friend." He hoisted Steve to a standing position and supported him as they made their slowly journey towards the ambush scene.

 **Bruce**

"Dr. Banner?" To Bruce the voice sounded far away, "Dr. Banner, you're safe," slightly closer, "Dr. Banner?"

The doctor inched his eyes open and tried to make sense of the hazy surroundings. "Where am I?" his words slurred.

"Bruce, my name is Terry Amalek I'm the head commissioner here at Quad-14, you're safe just relax." The woman's voice was comforting. Bruce attempting to focus solely on her. She was a middle aged woman, maybe 40 or 45 with honey brown hair that only reached her chin. She was dressed in a professional sea green business suit but her face was all friendly.

"What's Quad-14?" His mental capabilities were almost completely restored.

"A homeland security site, we run under SHIELD's command. We were alerted of a disturbance in the area, it turned out to be the Avengers under attack," she smirked, "You don't see that every day on this base."

Bruce sat up in his cot, "The rest of the team, are they here? Are they alright?"

Amalek looked to the floor solemnly, "No, they aren't here. They may have been taken but we can't actually confirm if they are alive. Any information you remember would be appreciated."

"I don't remember much, I think I may have been drugged or blacked out. Either way it prevented the other guy from making an appearance."

She bit her lip and opened her clenched fist. In her palm was a small metal ring with micro sized pricks sprouting from one end. "This is what we removed from the back of your neck, it releases a small dosage of a highly concentrated general aesthetic, more than what any human should be able to face. The interesting part is that they must be remotely activated from a short distance, a few feet at most."

"Are you saying one of my team members purposely sabotaged me? That's impossible, you're wrong."

"We'd like to think so but evidence is evidence. Are you aware that the site you were headed to for your mission is a known KGB base?" The mention of the KGB was a highly unsubtle way to imply Natasha and her previous employer were somehow at blame.

Bruce shook his head, "No, not Natasha. The KGB doesn't even exist anymore, it's been dissolved."

"Now doctor, we both are aware that no secret organization ever really goes away. I'd like it not to be true, but Agent Romanoff has the only connection to what you guys were walking into, a death trap."

"She's loyal to SHIELD, she'd never plot against us," Bruce tried to remain calm.

"Doctor, are you aware that Agent Romanoff's last mission, which according to SHIELD records she returned from just a day ago, was gathering intel in this area? She was directly associating with the group your team was about to attack."

He couldn't let himself believe this, this was his friend his trusted colleague. "It was a classified mission, Natasha wasn't allowed to give any details."

Amalek rested a hand on his shoulder, "We would like for you to see something, if you'd follow me please." She led Bruce down a couple of narrow hallways, the base itself was particularly small. They arrived at what may have been a forensics lab. The especially cramped room featured a square metal table at the center.

"We recovered these at the scene of the crash, we don't see how anyone could have survived based on this evidence." Laid out over the table was an array of nearly unrecognizable components of the Iron Man suit.

"No," Bruce whispered.

"Unfortunately, after inspecting these I had no choice but to report Agent Romanoff to SHIELD for treason in your behalf. Let this motivate you to bring together the remnants of the Avengers, to do what you do best as a team."

Dr. Banner squeezed his eyes shut and controlled his breathing. Still whispering, "What's the first step?"

"Restoring communications. We have a team down the hall that could use your brilliance in getting the comms online. Once that's completed then, well, it will be time for the Avengers to assemble."


	3. Reaching You

**Thank you for the amazing support. And a special thank you to all my reviewers, I really love receiving feedback so thank you so much!**

 **Chapter 3: Reaching You**

 **Clint**

It wasn't a classic interrogation room. It was a plain white walls, wood flooring, and ceiling fan room. Even more puzzling was the inclusion of windows, a single wall of the square room was bordered with small windows far above one's head. Chained to a chair in the true center of room was Clint. He had been awake for just minutes, keeping his mouth shut while testing the strength of the restraints.

It was torturous. He remembered the crash, he reaching out for Natasha but only grasping air. Is she alive? The question that he could barely stand to ask himself, knowing all too well he wouldn't receive an answer.

It was for this lack of understanding and thirst for information that caused Clint to nearly rejoice when the door finally opened.

"Agent Barton, how are you?" A man dressed in casual jeans and a t-shirt, stuffed his hands his pocket and grinned. Clint knew this was the villain, he couldn't satisfy him with a response.

"Agent, do you plan on speaking?" The man leaned his back against the wall facing Clint. He rolled his eyes when the agent again remained silent, "I didn't think we'd have to use this threat so soon but for the wellbeing of your partner, who is also in captivity, I'd suggest you answer just a few harmless questions."

"Where is she?" Clint muttered, looking the man in his eyes.

"Nowhere close, Barton. But from what I've gathered, relatively safe. Consider that your one and only question. I have a few for you," He looked Clint up and down before continuing, "How did Natasha Romanoff join SHIELD?"

His agreement to talk was short lived, Clint quickly retook the silent treatment. Their questions wouldn't be harmless, it would be betrayal to his best friend and possible her death.

The man ran his hands through his hair and walked out muttering to himself. Clint felt his work on easing the restraints were paying off, and hid the smug smile tempting to creep onto his face.

 **Natasha**

Natasha's room was identical to Clint's with the exception of windows. She too was passing the time by inconspicuously testing the strength of the handcuffs, which to her delight was reaping excellent results. The door swung open and man dressed in normal street clothes appeared along with two uniformed guards. Natasha spoke before the man could get a good look at her.

"Where's the rest of team?"

"Whoa, whoa. So eager for answers, my dear. Anyways, we do not track the Avengers. We do however have a special interest in you, Natasha Romanoff."

"But you know where Clint is," she responded evenly.

"Why do you suspect that, agent?" Natasha could tell the man was trying not show his surprise.

"Because if you'd try to capture me, you would also have to capture the person that would come find me first," She stared the man down confidently.

"I see someone read their 'How to be a Spy 101'. Your partner, as far as I have heard is doing well. His location, well, as I said we have a special interest in you and only you."

Natasha scoffed, "Yeah, I'm sure you do. Why don't you get in line?"

The man grinned and leaned against the wall, "Who else is this line? The KGB?" Natasha raised an eyebrow, "Thought that might grab your attention. So how long did you work for those murderers?"

"You are terrible at interrogating." Natasha smirked.

"I promise you, we have other techniques if necessary. So, how did SHIELD find you? Better yet, why didn't they just kill you?"

"Because killing is the easy way out. For instance, you haven't killed me because you prefer the complex path. Me, on the other hand, I'll go for easy." Natasha sprung into a standing position, she grabbed the sides of chair and heaved it in the direction of the two armed guards, they both hit the wall. It was then that Natasha realized she had been given pain medication. Her body was bandaged in many spots and it hurt to strain her muscles. She desperately wished she had considered her disabilities before facing the eminent stream of guards.

"Do not let her escape, she's an asset!" The interrogator yelled into his earpiece before Natasha treated him to a kick in the head knocking him unconscious.

 **Clint**

After being left alone for a good ten minutes, Clint mustered a rashly devised plan to use the windows as his escape route in hope he had the strength to take out all resistance. From the looks of the view outside he couldn't be more than two stories up, he'd jump and run, simple. The worst that could happen was he'd get captured and be forced to wait for his teammates to rescue him. With that confidence he stood up, wincing at the pain he neglected to notice before.

In his brief moment of weakness two unarmed guards rushed through the door. The first one leapt to tackle Clint. He dodged the guard and swung his arm, it connected with instigator's temple causing him to crumble to the ground.

The second man attempted an attack from behind. He gripped Clint into a headlock and used his free hand to twist Clint's arm behind his back. Barton began pushing the guard back towards the wall. The scrawny man was unable repel enough force to prevent his back from hitting the wall and loosening his headlock around the archer. Clint swung his head back and head butted the weaker link, he quickly collapsed to the floor holding his head in pain.

Clint watched the door for a moment before turning toward the windows. He sighed, "Well that was almost too easy." He grabbed the chair from the center of the room and tossed it at the window, shattering the glass. He climbed to freedom, and jumped to the earth. He cringed in pain before he gathered himself and took off running. He could see the lights of a city in the not-too-far distance. He stumbled over a few stones and uneven grass, he cursed to himself and kept moving. He remained wary of his environment, it was all swept with nighttime darkness.

Clint raced to the city, in hopes he would miraculously rescue his best friend from wherever she was.

 **Natasha**

"We're going to need everyone, she's the Black Widow! Where's Davidson and Uriad?"

"Not applicable right now, boss. Apparently, the other prisoner decided to attempt escape as well."

Five guards immediately pushed through the door. The first one to enter was greeted with a chair being shoved at his head. Manning the chair was the infamous Black Widow. She began striking her victims, blindly swiping the chair in various directions. Natasha forced her way through the door, just as the shooting of a now conscience guard started.

She tried to run with everything she had. She was much worse off than she had imagined. Pain shot through her left leg as she attempted to increase her pace. Her head was pounding along with her throbbing left shoulder. She heard shouts and running feet, her body argued for her to cease but she couldn't give up.

Natasha yelped as a burly watchman tackled her from the side. It was an unexpected hit that sent both through a door and flying into a small office. The man pinned her wrist to floor, before he could lock her legs into place Natasha kneed him in the genitals. He groaned in pain while Natasha clutched his neck, smashing his head to floor.

Natasha stumbled to her feet, her body protested each movement. The victory ended suddenly when she felt a needle being stabbed into her neck. Her vision instantly became fuzzy. She jerked away from the pair of hands dragging her back into the hallway. She flung her arms hoping to grab of anything to anchor her. She managed to grip the desk, not before pushing a file from the surface. Natasha was rewarded with a single glance at the cover of the file before everything went dark. She recognized the title and released a quiet gasp before the medication took over:

" **HTA- Quad 14: Reinstating HYDRA Placement Plan"**


End file.
